Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) told CBS’s Bob Schieffer on Sunday that some members of Congress were considering some kind of action in response to the Florida Quran burning that sparked a murderous riot at a United Nations complex in Afghanistan and other mayhem.
“Ten to 20 people have been killed,” Reid said on “Face the Nation,” but refused to say flat-out that the Senate would pass a resolution condemning pastor Terry Jones.
“We’ll take a look at this of course…as to whether we need hearings or not, I don’t know,” he added.
Meanwhile Obama condemns the burning of this book as intolerance. I call it freedom. If someone wants to burn the Koran, the Bible, or Huckleberry Finn they have every right to do it. Is it wise? No. But I didn’t hear Obama condemn the constant affronts to Christianity by liberal “artists,” or Muslims who burnt churches and burial sites.
Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t believe Obama is some secret Islamist who feels no condemnation towards these acts but don’t single one out and not comment on the other.
Our freedoms are sacred and even though some may dislike what Jones did, for anyone to suggest Congress should get involved is beyond lunacy. That is blaming Jones for how these fanatical Islamists acted. You don’t blame a girl with a short skirt for getting raped, you blame the rapists. You don’t blame a man who burns a Koran for the murder of innocent people by Muslims, you blame the murderers.
Will Congress now look into those who exhibit “Piss Christ,” “Ant Cross,” and “Jesus Porn”?
Of course not, and they shouldn’t. But we still get Harry Reid, and now Lindsey Graham calling for the loss of liberty:
“I wish we could find a way to hold people accountable. Free speech is a great idea, but we’re in a war. During World War II, we had limits on what you could say if it would inspire the enemy. So, burning a Koran is a terrible thing but it doesn’t justify killing someone. Burning a Bible would be a terrible thing but it doesn’t justify murder. Having said that, anytime we can push back here in America against actions like this that put our troops at risk we should do it, and I look forward to working with Senators Kerry, and Reid, and others to condemn this, condemn violence all over the world based on the name of religion. But General Petreaus understand better than anybody else in America what happens when something like this is done in our country and he was right to condemn it and I think Congress would be right to reinforce what General Petreasus said.”
Hold people accountable?
Amazing.
The premise that the actions of Terry Jones will threaten our troops is also inane. Those who fight against us in Afghanistan and Iraq do it NOT because we are doing things they don’t like. No, they do it because they are the fanatic fringe. Those who believe westerners are heretics and must convert or die. Whether the burning of the Koran is done or not our troops are just as unsafe. It’s called war.
If there’s no moral agency, then I guess the folks who argued for a return to colonialism after 9/11 were right. If Muslims aren’t capable of self-control or moral responsibility, then they must be ruled with a firm hand by those who are. Is that “liberal?” No, but interestingly the consequences of taking the ideas of liberals seriously seldom are. Alternatively, some people are just using this as an excuse to blame people they like less than savages and barbarians.
Terry Jones had every right to do what he did and he should not be forced to stop nor investigated.
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